Florida church is 'complete loss' after fire investigators have tied to lightning
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A Florida church is a “complete loss,” according to officials there, after a fire on Tuesday afternoon that investigators suspect was due to lightning.
A spokeswoman with the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office told Fox News on Wednesday that a lightning strike during Tuesday’s storms in the area likely caused the blaze at the First Baptist Church of Milligan in Baker, in the Florida Panhandle.
First Baptist Church of Milligan. (Okaloosa Co. Sheriff's Office/ Deputy Britt Corbin )
The sheriff’s office tweeted on Wednesday, “Firefighters say #lightning may be behind a huge blaze that engulfed First Baptist Church of Milligan yesterday.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The tweet included pictures by Deputy Britt Corbin, “who called in the smoke and flames.”
“Firefighters did all they could to put out the raging #fire,” the tweet also said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}First Baptist Church of Milligan in Florida (Okaloosa Co. Sheriff's Office/ Deputy Britt Corbin)
The church “looks likely to be a complete loss,” according to a post on the First Baptist Church of Milligan’s Facebook page.
Pastor Smith wrote in the post that Sunday services will be held at another church in Baker and he thanked “the good folks there for their hospitality.”
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}First Baptist Church of Milligan in Florida (Okaloosa Co. Sheriff's Office/ Deputy Britt Corbin)
“The building may be gone but the church is the people,” he wrote in the post. “Please keep us in your prayers.”
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The sheriff's office said no one was in the church at the time of the fire. and no injuries were reported.